Birds Prevent Carbon Emissions?

For Earth Day, Bird—the leading last-mile electric vehicle sharing company—announced t that this week its riders have surpassed one million rides flown on Birds. This milestone was reached in seven months time, while Bird has been operating in just seven cities, with four of them launched within the past month.

If one assumes that just half of these Bird rides replaced a one-mile car trip and uses data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), then Bird riders were able to prevent 445,334 pounds of carbon emissions, pollution that contributes to climate change.

“We started Bird with the goal of getting people out of cars, especially for the two out of every five car trips in America that are fewer than two miles long,” said Travis VanderZanden, founder and CEO of Bird. “We are heartened that so many people share that goal, and this Earth Day, we are committed more than ever to continue our work in expanding Birds across the country, transforming last-mile transportation, and doing our part to stop climate change.”

Bird began introducing vehicles in Los Angeles in September 2017, and expanded to San Diego in January 2018. In March 2018, Birds migrated north to San Francisco and San Jose, Calif. as well as to Washington, DC. Most recently, Bird riders in Austin, Texas began to take flight. Also of note, in its first three weeks in operation in San Francisco, Bird riders traveled more than 90,000 miles.

As part of its industry-leading Save Our Sidewalks Pledge to prevent clutter in Bird cities, the company is committed to grow only when there is demand. If Birds are not ridden at least three times per day, then the company does not add additional vehicles. In addition, Bird is remitting $1 per vehicle per day to governments so they can use this money to build more bike lanes, promote safe riding, and maintain our shared infrastructure.

Bird also wants to make sure riders travel safely and was the first company to ship free helmets to all riders who request within the app. At last count, Bird has distributed 22,512 helmets since starting the program in January.

Riders interested in learning when it will be available in their market can download and sign up at www.birdapp.com.